The pathology of head and neck tumors: vasoformative tumors, part 9B

There are three principal malignant vasoformative tumors that can be found in the head and neck--hemangiopericytoma, angiosarcoma, and Kaposi's sarcoma. All are uncommon and provide challenges for the pathologist and the therapist both. The histogenesis of each tumor is different. Kaposi's sarcoma has many features which suggest that it is an altered immune-response disease. Angiosarcoma is a malignancy of endothelium. Hemangiopericytoma is a tumor whose cell of origin is considered to be the perithelial pericyte. The general prognosis for patients with Kaposi's sarcoma is good. The biologic course of a hemangiopericytoma is variable and unpredictable, but there appears to be a site dependency. Angiosarcomas, particularly high grade lesions, are resistant to therapy.